Custom 14' Drifter

[remlinger]

About 12 years ago my wife and I set out to design and build our own drift boat for fly fishing on Michigan rivers.
Heres a couple of shot of it underconstruction and completed. It's bin in hard use since I completed it in 1996.

Specification:
Length: 14'-6"
Beam: 65" at gunnel and 49" at bottom
Weight: 196 pounds
Daft: 2.5" empty and 7" full loaded with three people and gear.
Construction: Stress skin 1/4" okume plywood side and 2 layors 1/4" douglas fir bottom. 4oz fiberglass cloth and West systems epoxy inside and out. All hard wood rails are made of ash.

 

[Chris]

Thanks remlinger!

I appreciate you popping in and posting those up for us.

Your drifter came out really nice.


-Chris

 

[remlinger]

Not a problem. I've added in the under construction shots showing the strong back frame which we bent every thing on. My intial intention was to build ten of these a year on a by order basis. To keep with the custom theme I was gong to change the material and finishes each year. Well finishing my Masters of Architecture degree and raising my daughter has slowed those plans down some. But Lori (my lovely wife) and I do still intend on building a few.

This one was my prototype, and its handling the abuse well. Rocks, tree, sticks, gear and being overloaded has not sank to boat yet. We allowed it to fill up with 6" ice and water one winter and none of the joints blew out. I have redesigned the height of the sides and width on paper but have not built that design yet.

 

[Chris]

What did you use to bend the wood?

-Chris

 

[remlinger]

Chris,

The transom and keel were set in the strong-back frame and secured with screws from the underside. From there all of the other chin rails were installed around the frame and secured to the transom and keel. The bottom is made of two laminations of 1/4" doug fir which are stappled to the chin rails and keel and epoxyed to one another. This eleminated bounce back when the boat was removed from the strong-back. The one thing I would change is that the keel was a single piece of 3/4" white oak. I would make this out of two or more layers the next time, less bounce back and stiffer back bone. I lapped the sides and bottom, meaning I put on one layer the bottom then the sides and the last layer of the bottom closing off the end grain of the side panels. The 1/4 Okome plywood conformed to the frame work nicely and trimed to shape along the bottom.

I'm looking to use ACAD software to convert the 2D drawings so I could have all of the pieces pre-cut on a CNC and help expodite the fabrication.

 

[Chris]

Back when I was a young guy, we had a carpenter build one of the Glen-L designs for me. The carpenter told me he had a hell of a time bending some of the pieces into place and that was after he steamed them in some mached up device he made.

I've still got the plans for the boat and every once in a while get the itch to attempt to build another.

Hence why I asking about how you bent the wood.

-Chris

 

[remlinger]

The Chin rails I mill down to 1/4 thickness and laminated two layors. Theres a really good book out by Gougeon Brothers out of Bay City Michigan (makers of West System Epoxy) call Gougeon Brothers On Boat Construction. Great resource for technical and also proceedure and inovative construction techniques. If you think about build a wood boat this is the guide to follow. They alos publish quarterly paper discussing differnet topics which West Systems can be used. My favorit was the reconstruction of the roof on Wing Span designed by Frank Lyod Wright. I've incorporated the use of their techniques in my architectural spec's on renovations and even new home designs.